Royal wedding ceremony ‘zombies’ lose human rights case

Protesters have lost a prison fight in opposition to pre-emptive arrests made while some of them dressed as zombies in London at some stage in 2011’s royal wedding. The nine demonstrators were detained until after the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge kissed on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. After eight years of felony hearings, they took their case to the European Court of Human Rights. There, they have been advised there had been no breach of their proper liberty. That courtroom’s ruling manner police can preventatively detain humans even supposing they don’t have any specific intelligence linking the character to crime.

Royal wedding

The nine folks that fought the case to the Strasbourg court were among 20 who were arrested, detained, or searched before Prince William’s wedding ceremony to Catherine Middleton. Among them turned into a set-taking component in a tongue-in-cheek “zombie wedding ceremony” in Soho. The event became two miles from the Westminster Abbey ceremony – and aimed to attract attention to cuts, consisting of public services, that could hit individuals in the LGBT network. Organizers recommended human beings to dress up for a “fun, theatrical” event that could make a serious factor – but police said that one leaflet cautioned that “maggot confetti” might be thrown.

Hannah Eiseman-Renyard, a lead claimant in the case, said she had handiest joined the event to assist film and report on it, and they became astonished when officials arrested her in a Starbucks outlet. She has never been worried about or accused of criminality and changed into freed without charge on an identical day. There becomes no proof that everybody had any maggots – and Ms. Eiseman-Renyard stated the reference on a leaflet had been written as a shaggy dog story. I went out to report on a flash mob with lip stain dripping down my chin but ended up with handcuff marks on my wrists,” she stated. This is not the final result we were hoping for after eight years of a certain long fight. In 2011 the arrests were unjust and illegal. Today they stay unjust.

Another claimant inside the case, Brian Hicks, said he was searched for risky items even heading to the “Not the Royal Wedding” protest in Westminster. He became wearing a packet of biscuits, telephones, and a comb.
Taken to a police station, he was released without a price after the principal royal events had been completed.
The European Court stated it’d now not recall the lawfulness of the detentions because British judges had already checked out the stability among police responsibilities to keep the peace and the rights of those held. The judgment was significantly prompted by a decision in an unrelated soccer hooligan case from Denmark. It concluded that police ought to detain humans – and consequently interfere with their right to liberty – if they believed it would save someone from getting worried about the later disorder. But Ms. Eiseman-Renyard stated: “This judgment now approaches that the police don’t want a criminal motive to arrest a person and get them out of the manner. The final results of this example have very demanding implications for civil liberties.”

Comments Off on Royal wedding ceremony ‘zombies’ lose human rights case